Nineteen Eighty Four is a dystopian novel written by Gorge Orwell in 1948 and was later published in 1949. The novel depicts a totalitarian dystopian world where all the citizens are constantly brainwashed and are forced to be equal. The people in the book are forced to work for big brother without any freedom as their rights are infringed. The party in the novel suppresses the people’s thinking by making them equal in addition to creating fear in them through strict laws and propaganda in order to stop them from resisting (Bowker 102). Through this book, Orwell warns us of our possible future in 1984 by using symbolism, protagonists, and antagonists throughout 1984. Orwell uses the novel Nineteen Eighty Four as a chance to warn the people about the dangers of a possible future autocratic government.
Nineteen Eighty Four is a novel that is full of literary devices, and languages that are used to distort people’s minds and execute propaganda to stifle their thoughts. The party uses the words Doublespeak and newspeak which are used to obscure the actual meaning of words, and to condense people’s thoughts respectively. By explaining how these linguistic devices were used to suppress people’s intelligence, Orwell is able to warn the society about the possible society with totalitarian control.
Nineteen Eighty Four is a book that depicts a totalitarian future world using the protagonist in the book. Winston Smith is the main character in the book. He is depicted as a man in his late 30’s and he was a member of the outer party, which is the lower of the two classes present in George Orwell’s world. In the story, Winston worked for the government in one of its ministries called the Ministry of Truth. Winston’s job was to rewrite the history books in order to prevent the coming generation from knowing what really happened in the past. The Party which was led by The Big Brother was controlled by a slogan "who controls the past, controls the future," therefore, the government wanted to control the future by erasing the past (Orwell, 68). Orwell was trying to show us that, the past governments are able to control the future. As the protagonist in the story, Orwell uses his resistance to the Party and the Big Brother as a warning to the future generation to be prepared to resist a possible totalitarian government. As the story progresses, Big Brother notices that Winston is contemplating to go against him and he orders that he be watched by O’Brien, who is an intelligent executive in the Ministry of Truth where Winston works. O’Brien was a member of the Inner Party, which was an upper class, and he pretended to be with him, but betrayed Winston later on. After the betrayal, Winston ends up "where there is no darkness," a room where criminals or those who defy Big Brothers strict laws. He was tortured, mentally murdered and forced to believe in the Big Party, and as the book ends, we see Winston loving Big Brother in the end. Orwell writes that, “He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother” (Orwell, 298). Winston was tortured and brainwashed by the authoritarian government until his thoughts were changed into loving Big Brother.
Orwell uses the Protagonists life and experiences to warn about a future totalitarian government that will brainwash its citizens as Winston was brainwashed. Initially, he was against the Big Brother’s ideas, but after he was arrested, tortured and brainwashed, he likes Big Brothers ideas, and he sees nothing wrong about The Party. As the book ends, the protagonist is completely mentally dead because, he is controlled by the party and can do nothing on his own, for he became a toy of Big Brother. Orwell warns us how a totalitarian government can brainwash its citizens through Winston’s experiences. The government in 1984 suppresses the people’s thinking and eliminates their freedom in order to have a total control over them.
In the book, Lies and false information controls the people in the 1984 world. The people are meant to believe lies and since they are under surveillance, they are forced to conform to the strict laws set by the big brother. Orwell shows how The Party uses propaganda as a weapon of control. Through this Orwell warns us of how propaganda can be used in the future world to suppress people’s rights as it will make them believe in what the ruling party tells them.
George Orwell uses symbolism in his book to warn us of our possible future in his book 1984. There is a famous phrase in the novel “Big Brother is watching,” which symbolizes that; the ruler of the party is watching people’s movements. Big Brother was the face of the party, and the people were made to believe that, he is watching them in every step they make. In this government, the people are only to follow the rules and laws that the Big Brother gives, or else they are imprisoned. George Orwell is trying to present a future government whereby, the people will be constantly watched by the Big brother. The entire book is full of symbolism which the author uses to show how the government was totalitarian, and the people had no say. In addition, Orwell uses the Symbol “Big Brother is watching” to instill fear in the people of the 1984 world. The symbol was everywhere and it instilled a lot of fear in the people since they knew they are being watched and they feared for their lives. The words were first seen by Winston when he was taken to the Victory Mansion, the word was all over the place on posters and it was used to make the people to fear the government and to do all the Party ordered them to do. The poster was a propaganda the Party used in order to instill fear in the people by making them believe that, big brother was tracking all their movements. Therefore, the author used the symbolism of the posters on “Big Brother is watching” in order to warn the future society of how they will be suppressed by propaganda that they are being watched by the “Big Brother is watching,” yet it is just to repress their thoughts and actions against a possible totalitarian government. Big Brother is also used to symbolize the party in its appearance, whereby, its leader is there to rule the people the way he wants. In addition, it meant that, the ruler who is the Big Brother is an open threat who cannot be escaped.
Other symbols used in the book are telescreens and “the place where there is no darkness” (Orwell, 348). The tele-screens are a symbol of the Party’s continuous monitoring of its citizens. The Big Brother used the telescreens to pass information to its subjects and to spread propaganda which instilled fear in the citizens. In addition, the citizens were made to believe that, they were being watched through them and they feared being caught and tortured. Orwell used the telescreens to symbolize how a totalitarian government can abuse technology to instill fear in the people instead of using it to improve their knowledge. In addition, the symbol of “the place where there is no darkness” is used to symbolize a prison, where the people who defied Big Brother were taken. Winston ended up in the “the place where there is no darkness” after he tried thinking against what the Party was demanding from the citizens. In addition, “the place where there is no darkness” symbolizes the future of the people whereby, if a totalitarian government is possible in the future, people will suffer in the hands of the Big Brother.
George Orwell wrote Nineteen Eighty Four to portray a possible totalitarian society in the future. It is evident from the book that, if this society is not opposed, it could be a reality in the coming years. He presents a society whereby the people are controlled and monitored even in their own houses. In addition, the people’s thoughts are monitored, as well as being forced to be equal and if anyone is found to be powerful that the rest of the people, he is made equal to the rest. Through his characters, Orwell is able to show the dangers of such a society, and it is a clear warning to the society that they should be ready for such a government.
George Orwell was able to accomplish his mission of warning the world of a future totalitarian government. He used excellent symbolism, events, the protagonist and the antagonist to make it possible. Through his imaginations, and the use of technology and the protagonist, Orwell was able to show the dangers of a totalitarian government to the future society (West 205).
Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell is a book that was intended to be a prediction of the future governments. It is a political novel that is to warn the society about the dangers of an authoritarian government. The author wrote this book as an alarm to the society of a government with absolute power. Orwell uses symbolism, the protagonists and the antagonists to view his opinion about the future possibilities of a new world order and a totalitarian government. Orwell wrote this book as a warning of a possible totalitarian future government. The book is a story about a man’s struggle against a totalitarian government which used technology to discover the thoughts of those against it and punish them.
Works Cited
Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-four. London: Penguin, 2000. Print.
Bowker, Gordon. Inside George Orwell: A Biography. Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. Print.
West, William. J. The Larger Evils – Nineteen Eighty-Four: the Truth Behind the Satire. Edinburgh: Canongate Press, 1992. Print.
